Database Users

Searching for GPS wont go away

i came from 4.2.1. updated to 4.2 and now my tablet wont stop saying searching for GPS (i am indoors and no GPS lock can be found).
nothing has changed, i have the same APPs haven't removed or added anything except updating via OTA yet now after the update this searching for GPS wont go away and i have to toggle it off now.
i have always left GPS and Wifi on with 4.2.1 and didnt have this problem and its draining my battery so i disable GPS.
anyone else see this on theirs?

1) turn GPS off
2) download gps status
3) wait until you are outside and stationary
4) turn on GPS and run gps status to see if you are getting any kind of fix on satellites.

Zillow (an app in the Play Store) causes this on my device. If I force closed it, the GPS icon would go away. If you're not using Zillow, maybe another app is the cause. Try force-closing anything you think might be using GPS

while google nav is running in background (searching for gps..) Hit the home button Go to settings . Toggle gps Of then back on..
You might have to then exit google nav off then back on.. Sometimes it will take a few tired..
This randomly happens to me sometimes if i start google Nav with the gps enabled.. Was present in 4.1.2 after the latest maps update .

I had the EXACT same problem.. I had updated in my "bunker" where I work (no GPS signals get in here) and until it finally got a signal it tried for like 2 hours. Once it did it, it was happy.
I really, really wish there were some way to see GPS usage history. There has got to be a way to do that. A log of what apps used the GPS, how long, etc

Same here. I also noticed this today and the battery drained quickly. It looks like the Weather Channel app was causing it in my case. It had an unusually large share of the battery consumption (according to the Android battery monitor) and uninstalling it seems to fix the issue (will take another day to confirm). This was working fine on 4.1.2.

Mine also has gone AWOL. I tried the on-off trick, all styles, but no joy (and waiting 2 hours was not a possibility... I needed it there and then).
I'll try the apps suggested, but as Gps is a core service, and one Google relies upon, it's disappointing that this crops up after an update to 4.2.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

szeiger said:
Same here. I also noticed this today and the battery drained quickly. It looks like the Weather Channel app was causing it in my case. It had an unusually large share of the battery consumption (according to the Android battery monitor) and uninstalling it seems to fix the issue (will take another day to confirm). This was working fine on 4.1.2.
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Thanks for bringing this up. I was having this problem, and I have The Weather Channel too so I went to uninstall it and right when I did the GPS notification went away. It's looking like it may be a problem with the app then and not the GPS. Maybe something changed in the background and they have to make some modifications to the app to fix it.
I reinstalled TWC and when telling it to find me through GPS on the first run, it doesn't seem to want to get my location. I did it indoors before so I don't know why it wouldn't pick it up now. But at least it doesnt seem to be constantly accessing the GPS. I was going to do a factory reset to figure out if it was a problem with the system update itself but I'll just chalk it up to an app problem right now.
It's strange though, in 4.1.2 I don't remember getting any notification that the GPS was searching\locked on unless it was Navigation or Maps doing something. Either way, I dislike this new GPS notification thing overall. On the other hand, it's a good thing that we know the GPS was being used improperly. I hope they update The Weather Channel app soon. Weather Underground is slow even on the Nexus 7.

I'm having the same trouble after the update.

I left The Weather Channel uninstalled and had the GPS on again... still a lot of usage so I've just turned the GPS off until I need it. This is very unnecessary though. It has to be something in the operating system (I don't have any apps running in the background that should be using it so much when fine location isn't required).
Has anybody else tried a factory reset to see if this alleviates this problem? I really don't want to be the first and then lose important things I have saved to memory. :/

In 4.1.2 when using Navigation, GPS would be lost at times. Firing up GPS Test Plus would show no satellites, then rapidly find them, and suddenly Navigation would work again. I sometimes had to toggle GPS, sometimes didn't.
In 4.2 so far, I've had GPS vanish in Navigation, and stay vanished in GPS Test Plus. Toggling GPS doesn't seem to help. Rebooting is required to locate the satellites. Annoying.
About to delete 5gb of data to see if my 16GB model will magically speed up from the constant heavy lag.

A factory reset seems to have fixed my GPS problem.

same problem.i found a advertisement module in heywire caused it.as i force closed heywire,it is gone.before that,it continues for 7 hours.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

zhj said:
same problem.i found a advertisement module in heywire caused it.as i force closed heywire,it is gone.before that,it continues for 7 hours.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
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Sorry for the bump but it seems even after uninstalling The Weather Channel and the factory reset I still get GPS activation for a long time from time to time. I seem to have found the process in the battery usage that's causing it. "Fused Location". Not sure what uses this or what it is, it has an android icon. I force closed it and GPS stopped searching. Probably not a permanent fix. I sent feedback from the OS on this process.

I've seen this in 4.2 on my Nexus 7 AND my Galaxy Nexus.
Not nailed it yet, one culprit was Shazam (turned off Location in the settings for that and it went away)
Checking my Battery stats again, Shazam is on 12% and I've not even run it! Gonna remove the homescreen widget, see if that helps.

jmbillings said:
I've seen this in 4.2 on my Nexus 7 AND my Galaxy Nexus.
Not nailed it yet, one culprit was Shazam (turned off Location in the settings for that and it went away)
Checking my Battery stats again, Shazam is on 12% and I've not even run it! Gonna remove the homescreen widget, see if that helps.
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Click to collapse
i suggest you to to Settigs -> Apps -> Running (Tab)
Individuall kill/stop the application that you think might have caused the problem..
You will eventually know which Apps has caused it because the GPS icon goes away after you killed the erring application...
This worked for me. The problem App was "Perfect World Clock"

That solution is rather clunky. I have created a couple of simple Tasker profiles to get rid of this annoying notification. Works flawlessly for me. What it does is it shuts off GPS when the screen turns off, and restarts it after a short delay when the screen turns on. The delay is the real key here, as it circumvents the initial GPS search and, hence, no annoying message. Google Maps and Google Nav are not affected, as the GPS is always on when the screen is on, i.e. GPS is on whenever it is actually needed and off only if it is not needed. And, these profiles do not significantly impact battery, as they are Event triggered rather than State triggered. In fact, it probably saves battery, given that it turns GPS off when it's not needed. There are two profiles needed, which I have called "GPS Suspend" and "GPS Restart." Their associated tasks both utilize the Secure Settings plug-in which is needed to turn GPS on or off. As you will see, I have also added "If" conditions to each task's GPS command, to ensure that the command is executed if and only if the screen is in the correct (on/off) phase.
Here are the profiles and their associated tasks...
Profile: GPS Suspend
Event: Display Off
Enter: GPS Suspend
A1: Secure Settings [ Configuration:GPS Disabled Timeout (Seconds):0 ] If [ %SCREEN ~ off ]
Profile: GPS Restart
Event: Display On
Enter: GPS Resart
A1: Wait [ MS:0 Seconds:3 Minutes:0 HConfiguration:GPS:enabledours:0 Days:0 ]
A2: Secure Settings [ Timeout (Seconds):0 ] If [ %SCREEN ~ on ]
Try it and see!
modestdave

[Q] GPS won't disconnect

Hi all
When I open an app in which I need GPS, e.g. maps I have a problem in that if the GPS doesn't find my location and I close the app and turn GPS off (using notification toggles) it doesn't actually stop GPS. The GPS stays on and uses up battery. The only way to turn it off again is to go back into the app, find a GPS signal, close the app and then turn GPS off. This is a problem as I have been using Tasker to turn GPS on when I open specific apps and turn it off again when I close the app. However when inside with no GPS signal the GPS never switches off.
Has anyone else noticed this or can offer a solution? I'm using Franco kernel r53 on stock ROM
Thanks in advance

Anyone?

Unfortunately this is a problem with the stock ROM. When it happens to me I need to get GPS lock or restart.
Sent from my Nexus 4

[Q] Note 3 N9000q gps awake

I have just received my note 3. When i checked my battery stats, I noticed that the gps is always awake although I had disabled every single location access. Here is the screenshot. Any ideas?

nepolaon said:
I have just received my note 3. When i checked my battery stats, I noticed that the gps is always awake although I had disabled every single location access. Here is the screenshot. Any ideas?
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Click to collapse
You have to disable one more thing.
Go to: "Settings->Connections->Wi-Fi" and press the Menu button. Click on "Advanced" tab.
There you will find something like "Let/Allow/Permit always to scan" or sth. My phone is not English so i don't know what there originally writes in English but it is something like "Let/Allow/Permit always to scan".
If you UNCHECK this option, your wifi won't be awake all the time, anymore.

TheRecRuiT89 said:
You have to disable one more thing.
Go to: "Settings->Connections->Wi-Fi" and press the Menu button. Click on "Advanced" tab.
There you will find something like "Let/Allow/Permit always to scan" or sth. My phone is not English so i don't know what there originally writes in English but it is something like "Let/Allow/Permit always to scan".
If you UNCHECK this option, your wifi won't be awake all the time, anymore.
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Thank you for your help, that option is already unchecked. In fact, the issue is not about wifi. The GPS is awake because of some reason. I could not find why.

Battery drain due to GPS?
I could not find anything about the gps online. Does anyone have any ideas? Why would be the GPS awake all the time although the location services are completely off.

i am not an expert but can it be a false reading? because also it seems your screen is on while your phone is not awake? as i said i am not an expert but that is a condition i never saw on my note 1.

It is a bug with battery stats from my own experience ...The gps is not on but it shows it as on in the battery stats.
Try rebooting the phone. The gps bar will probably stop increasing until you turn it on again.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using xda app-developers app

problem solved?
Apparently, the reason was "Remote Control". When I turned that off, the gps was finally deactivated. The battery life seems to be better now.

nepolaon said:
Apparently, the reason was "Remote Control". When I turned that off, the gps was finally deactivated. The battery life seems to be better now.
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Click to collapse
That would make sense as I believe remote control is a security app.
When launched you can track your phones GPS co-ordinates and it sends them to you remotely.
Hence why the GPS would always need to be on?

I think you can still locate the phone via Google. I left the google location service on and the GPS battery drain is not back again. I am very relieved now

nepolaon said:
I think you can still locate the phone via Google. I left the google location service on and the GPS battery drain is not back again. I am very relieved now
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Hi, I have the same issue. Can you explain what you did? Is it an option in settings or an app?

Sorry for being late
idewis said:
Hi, I have the same issue. Can you explain what you did? Is it an option in settings or an app?
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I have deactivated remote control from the security preferences in the settings menu.

finding location even though GPS is off?

has anyone gotten this? I have GPS off, but the finding location notification and reticle comes up and just never goes away since GPS is obviously off. how can I figure out which app is doing this? it just started, but i haven't installed any new apps lately...
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

jayochs said:
has anyone gotten this? I have GPS off, but the finding location notification and reticle comes up and just never goes away since GPS is obviously off. how can I figure out which app is doing this? it just started, but i haven't installed any new apps lately...
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk
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u could install a firewall app where u can enable every app by its own. first shut all apps off, than on one by one to find out which makes this. this is what i would do. yes the app is not for GPS, but mostly when an app starts trying to find out ur location than it wants to deliver the data somewhere. so it could work like this. i have "android firewall" from the play store. its the icon with the blue shield an an android logo on it.

@jayochs GPS toggle switch actually leaves wifi and mobile network location on(Google). Just drops hardware/verizon* GPS. You can long press toggle to check. Not sure if this is your problem, but I found this odd testing and just making sure you are aware. I don't get GPS pops when completely off, I do when I toggle the switch.

About Location Services on Note 4

I have just moved to a Note 4, with Android 4.4.4 kitkat.
I am trying to understand the relationship between "Location Services" and the use of the GPS.
The new Android 4.4.4 on the Note 4 does not have anymore the "GPS toggle" button, to turn GPS on/off.
Under "Location Services", I see that we have the "Locating Method". I have chosen it as "High Accuracy" (GPS, Wifi and mobile networks).
My main question is if the GPS is really ON all the time under "Hign Accuracy" method, draining battery, or not.
According to my observations, I have seen that when an application using GPS (like a tracking app), a location icon appears in the status bar. It seems that at that moment (when the application is "requiring" the GPS), it is being turned off. And I think that if NO "GPS application" is executing, the new Android is keeping the GPS turned off and saving battery.
If I am right, this is a huge improvement over the previous versions of Android: I can have location services allways ON, but saving battery, and the GPS will be turned on ONLY when it is really needed by a "GPS only" app.
Is this correct ?
Thank you very much.

paggps said:
I have just moved to a Note 4, with Android 4.4.4 kitkat.
I am trying to understand the relationship between "Location Services" and the use of the GPS.
The new Android 4.4.4 on the Note 4 does not have anymore the "GPS toggle" button, to turn GPS on/off.
Under "Location Services", I see that we have the "Locating Method". I have chosen it as "High Accuracy" (GPS, Wifi and mobile networks).
My main question is if the GPS is really ON all the time under "Hign Accuracy" method, draining battery, or not.
According to my observations, I have seen that when an application using GPS (like a tracking app), a location icon appears in the status bar. It seems that at that moment (when the application is "requiring" the GPS), it is being turned off. And I think that if NO "GPS application" is executing, the new Android is keeping the GPS turned off and saving battery.
If I am right, this is a huge improvement over the previous versions of Android: I can have location services allways ON, but saving battery, and the GPS will be turned on ONLY when it is really needed by a "GPS only" app.
Is this correct ?
Thank you very much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, you do have the GPS toggle. Just look for it in the drawer (use 2 fingers to bring all the toggles in view). EDIT - I see what you mean now - you're right!
If GPS is on, of course it's not really functioning all the time - just when needed. You have to be careful, though, a misbehaved app could use it quite often, increasing dramatically the battery consumption.
Oh, and make sure to turn Report Location off from Google location services. It's a battery killer and you don't really needed (it's used for some - far from all - stuff in Google Now).

I don't think anything has changed. "Off" means off and all location services including GPS are disabled. "On" means whatever location method you've chosen is all on. So if it's high accuracy GPS is still primary and Wi-Fi and carrier signals supplement it. When the little icon appears in the notification bar it means GPS (the actual GPS radio) is active. There used to be some devices that didn't have GPS radios that only used Wi-Fi as a location source but they were tablets and it was a long time ago. When apps call for "location" the GPS radio is always activated, as long as location services are on.

pedmond said:
Well, you do have the GPS toggle. Just look for it in the drawer (use 2 fingers to bring all the toggles in view). EDIT - I see what you mean now - you're right!
If GPS is on, of course it's not really functioning all the time - just when needed. You have to be careful, though, a misbehaved app could use it quite often, increasing dramatically the battery consumption.
Oh, and make sure to turn Report Location off from Google location services. It's a battery killer and you don't really needed (it's used for some - far from all - stuff in Google Now).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the answers.
I have been using my new Note 4 for a week, all the time with "Location Services" ON, and in the "High precision" mode. And I can confirm that the GPS is being turned on only when a "GPS only" application is launched. The small GPS icon on the status bar is always off. With this configuration, I am having extremely good battery performance (over a day), and the GPS is "always ready" to be activated when a "GPS only" app needs it. For me, this is the optimal configuration, and is a nice advantage over Android 4.3.

paggps said:
Thanks for the answers.
I have been using my new Note 4 for a week, all the time with "Location Services" ON, and in the "High precision" mode. And I can confirm that the GPS is being turned on only when a "GPS only" application is launched. The small GPS icon on the status bar is always off. With this configuration, I am having extremely good battery performance (over a day), and the GPS is "always ready" to be activated when a "GPS only" app needs it. For me, this is the optimal configuration, and is a nice advantage over Android 4.3.
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Click to collapse
I sort of agree, but why take out the toggle. There will be times when you just don't want GPS to be used by a particular app, potentially a rogue one as mentioned. As far as I can see, there is no per-app setting for the location method, it's a global setting so you have to turn it off for everything, or have it on for everything, at the level you choose. There is a way to disable GPS altogether in the power saving settings somewhere (which I can't find now...) but that doesn't really help either. It would be pretty cool and totally the best implementation if you could select which app used which location methods. Pity I don't have root... I suspect XPrivacy would sort me right out...
If anyone knows a hidden shortcut to a menu where you can manually turn GPS on and off on a non-rooted phone, please let me know!